Tuscan tasting

There's this little Italian boutique I've been dying to try out. Mia Sorella in El Dorado Hills carries specialty olive oils and balsamic vinegars imported from all over the world. Now that I'm home I was able to visit and do a tasting. Let me tell you, I never knew olive oil and balsamic vinegar could taste so amazing.

 The long room is lined with metal canisters of oils and glass jars of vinegars. One of the owners will recommend a pairing and then combine a pump of each into a small plastic cup. Each type has recommended dishes to go along with it. There were so many fascinating flavors. There was a balsamic vinegar in nearly every fruit infusion you could imagine. There were all different strengths of olive oil, light to spicy to fruity.

My favorites were:

Meyer lemon olive oil and strawberry balsamic

(would be great on a salad, very light and great citrus flavor)

Blood orange olive oil and dark chocolate balsamic

(very rich and decadent, would be delicious over ice cream, fruit or even a spinach salad with oranges)

Tuscan herb olive oil and traditional 18-year balsamic

(very full, hearty italian flavor, would be delicious over pasta, with bread, or with meat)

They have various size bottles that you can purchase, but right now for the holidays they have a special on mini bottles for $9 so I picked up some christmas gifts! I would love to have a tasting party sometime, with breads and salads and meats and desserts to drizzle them over.

The shop also carries gourmet pastas, stuffed olives, herbs, soaps and locally made artisan ceramics.

(photos courtesy of the mia sorella website)

p.s. check out the recipes on their site!